I'm a cheap SOB who wants to make a bunch of custom workbenches. A four-by-eight-foot sheet of Formica (top layer only--the kind you glue to the substrate) costs about $40 US at the local warehouse store. Does anyone know of products similar to but cheaper than Formica, and possible sources for them? Something like rolls of more-flexible but less-durable melamine?
A brief search has turned up nothing, probably because I don't know what to call the stuff!
Many thanks,
Cam
Wilsonart is a good laminate, but very similar to Formica in flexibility and cost. Do a google search on "plastic laminates" for more information and contacts than you will ever need...a trial run got over 69,000 hits.
What kind of workbench are you building that requires a plastic laminate top? Certainly not woodworking, as it will not stand up to pounding, cuts fairly easily, chips, and is susceptible to overall damage from rough use.
Charlie Self "Politics: A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage. " Ambrose Bierce
The terminology you are looking for is 'High Pressure Laminate" Formica is a Brand but has gone Generic with a small " f " There is not much diffeance in any of the brands, If working with it a lot you will find differances in each color you work with. Darker colors are generally harder and more Brittle, you have several differant thickness's comonly known as V-32 (1/32 of an inch thick), General purpose which at one time was .062 thick now your lucky if it is .052 and Postforming which is made of a differant paper that the regular materials and is probabably .042 to .045 in thickness. They all have the same amount of Melamine on the surface the only test that they differ in is the Impact test.
Formica, Wilson Art Nevamar Pionite Laminart Arborite Panolam
There is a few others these are the most common ones
You are not doing to bad if a distributer is selling to you at that price. Find the local Distributers for any of the Brands and ask if they have some discontinued colors they are selling at a lower price, Also call some local cabinet shops and see if they have any left over sheets that they would sell you at a lower price They do indeed make a durable work bench Good luck, George
That's good advice.
I saw some sheets on clearance at Lowes one day...got 4 sheets for $6/ea! Rather neutral tan pattern...looks a bit like sawdust, actually.
!/4" tempered hardboard makes a fairly durable top and if not glued down, can be replaced when it gets too dinged up. It's also much cheaper than laminate.
-Doug
lots of guys use masonite (hardboard). It's quite cheap. When and if you destroy it, just cut another one to size and replace it. use 1/4. tempered if you can find it. make the edge of your bench the same height as the installed height of the Masonite and then you don't even need to screw it down. That's the way I did my bench and I'm very happy with the work surface.
dave
Camer> I'm a cheap SOB who wants to make a bunch of custom workbenches. A
After reading some of the other posts, I have to agree...depending on what these 'workbenches' will be usef for, Formica may not be the best choice. I've covered my TS auxilliary tables, router table and finishing tables with formica...I don't think I'd want my workbench to be Formica, for the reaons the others mentioned -- hammering, drilling and sawing are really not compatible with Formica. Additionally, if you want to clamp something down on the bench, you want something that offers some friction on the top of the bench, to make it easier to keep things in place.
If you are REALLY REALLY cheap, what about contact paper? Hey, I'm on a roll now!!!
Does hardboard take polyurethane? I'd like a surface to which glue does not stick.
My workbenches are indeed for woodworking, though auxiliary functions like assembly tables, machine tables, etc. I don't plan to use them for heavy work. Got a 2x4 leviathan for that.
Cam
Varnish isn't free, you know. I've been saving my wife's discarded bottles of nail polish...
Cam
It's amazing what speaking the language will do for you. Thanks for the schooling!
Cam
Yes it takes the smelly or waterbased poly just fine. I put 6 coats of waterbased on my tempered hardboard covered benches. The benchtops substrate is MDF.
Doug
On 4 Nov 2003 21:53:08 -0800, snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com (Cameron Lee) brought forth from the murky depths:
It'll be less expensive to put Johnson's Paste Wax on them them.
-- Friends Don't Let Friends Eat Turkey and Drive --
That's a completely unbiased suggestion, right Lar?
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